On March 7th, a long-awaited Band field trip took advanced band students to Kennedy High School. This wasn’t just any regular field trip, it was a band festival.

To those of you who aren’t in band, a festival is a field trip in which the band students go to get “graded,” if you will, on how well they play.

The bus came and took the students during first lunch with all of them having butterflies in their stomachs.

When the band students arrived at Kennedy High School for the festival, they were sent to unpack their instruments and practice in a large waiting/practice room. The students practiced their three songs, “Bryce Canyon” “Overture,” “Gentle Winds,” and “Latin Fire.” After the practice room, they were ready to go on stage in front of the judges.

The stage was very bright, yet the theater itself was dark so that the students could not see the judges talking about their performance. During the performance, Jackie Ajucum said that she was “very nervous.”

After the band students played their three songs, they moved on to sight reading. Sight reading is where one of the judges hands your band a song that has never been seen before, and it must be learned in five minutes. From there, they judge you on how you play the new song for the first time.

After the sight reading portion, the students waited for the bus to come to return to school. When the bus returned to Stacey Middle School with the students on board, the band students were notified of their rating. Which to many was disappointing. It was an Excellent.

An Excellent rating isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, it is the second best rating you can get (if you don’t include Unanimous Superior), but Jenna Montenez said that she, “. . . was disappointed . . .” but, “. . . noticed some flaws while playing.”

Later, the band students found out that they did indeed receive a Superior for the sight reading portion. However, when they were playing their three songs, the judges voted “Excellent, Excellent, and Good” Many, including Jackie and Jenna, were shocked to have gotten a Good rating. They had much higher expectations.

However, the band students did hear that the band that played after them received an overall “Good.” So, it could have been that the judges were rating bands a little bit harsher than usual.

The zero period band students along with a couple of other students who do extra band activities are going on another festival on March 27th. Hopefully, they can get a Unanimous Superior and make up for the Excellent. Let’s go Stacey Band!

Are you happy with Stacey’s Excellent? Do you think Stacey’s band should be disappointed, or are they being too harsh on themselves? Let us know in the comments below! Until next time Cougars, have a great day!

YouTube.com is a video sharing, a social media platform that most people in today’s digital age are familiar with. Your mom and even grandparents have most likely heard of YouTube. YouTube is very successful, they make revenue from advertising that also allows the people who create videos (often referred to as YouTubers) make money through a program called Adsense earnings when ads are enabled on their videos.

A lot of active social media users and general users of the app may be aware that YouTube videos can be demonetized unfairly and wrongfully done. They can appeal demonetization but still, it may take some time.

This is all due to the adpocalypse that arose in March of 2017 and ended in May after a scandal that caused many sponsors and advertisers to withdraw from YouTube and to boycott the website. Even after the “adpocalypse” though the effects still lingered with a rampant copyright bot made by YouTube that would unfairly demonetize YouTubers.

You might be wondering by now what “Adpocalypse” means. It refers to how all the ads on YouTube were mostly withdrawn and taken away from YouTubers, which can be a big deal for bigger YouTubers that rely on ads for their daily income. Because the bigger channels creators have most likely made YouTube their main and only source of income, when the ads started going away, it caused a panic on the site and the term the “adpocalypse” was coined.

Over time the site began to get all their sponsors back, with a few bumps in the road with companies like UMG ( Universal Music Group ) unfairly copyright striking and taking down videos. But for the most part, everything was back to normal until just recently.

The first adpocalypse happened in March of 2017 when it was shown to the media that ads were being played on racist and other extremist videos on YouTube. Which gave the site bad press causing some advertisers to withdraw.

Then in September of 2017, the biggest YouTuber on the site “Pewdiepie” said the N-Word during one of his live streams, which many people took offense to. Many news stories and articles were written shortly following the incident as well as many YouTubers expressing how they felt about the situation. Many even using Pewdiepie as the fall guy/scapegoat. For the most part, he became the face of the first Adpocalypse when he really wasn’t. He just more or less added to an already existing problem. Other points were made up about anti-Semitic jokes he made in early 2017 too.

Because of this controversy more of YouTube had to be more family friendly to being back sponsors. Pewdiepie himself also took a hit losing brand deals, partnerships, and a YouTube red show that was in the works.

Then in January of 2018, a YouTuber named Logan Paul uploaded a video to YouTube showing and reacting to a dead corpse hanging from a tree in the suicide forest of Japan. This again shook YouTube after many took offense to this, seeing how disrespectful and wrong it was.

After that, YouTube began to regain its feet again and slowly most of the ads came back for the content creators and for the most part everything seemed fine with a few bumps in the road. But then just recently on February 18th, 2019, a YouTuber that goes by the handle of MattsWhatltls made a video about how there was “Soft-core pedophilia ring” on YouTube. He then went on to blame YouTubes current algorithm for the situation. He alerted people in his fanbase to report this situation to companies putting ads on the site, often using the hashtag “#Youtubewakeup.

Soon enough this gained a lot of traction over the internet, with YouTube’s response being the deletion of 400 channels and suspending comments on tens of millions of videos. The site is trying to fix the problem and is also reporting offending users to law enforcement. YouTube then made a promise online to catch these inappropriate comments sooner in the future.

But even though it seemed that YouTube did their part very well and quickly within days big brands such as Hasbro, Disney, Epic Games, Dr. Oetker, Nestle, and AT&T all withdrew their ads from YouTube as the situation gained a lot of negative attention.

And not only that, AT&T had only just put their ads back on the sites two months prior to this incident after two months of not having them.

This event caused a lot of YouTube creators to be worried about the future of the site, fearing another adpocalypse which if that were to happen would cause more changes to the site. More censorship, tighter rules, and more innocent channels getting taken down or demonetize. Shortly following this, a lot of negativity went towards Matt’s choice to call out the site. It was good how he shined a light on a bad problem, but too many feel the way he went about it and pulling advertisers was not a good call. YouTube is still working on making the site a safer space, but many still fear if this could get any worse.

Gavin is the stranger behind all of the teacher conspiracy articles. You think you know him, but he is a mystery that may never be solved. Who really is Gavin Mercado? And what is he hiding?

Why Does Gavin Really Write Conspiracy Articles?

We all know Gavin is a great journalist, but all of a sudden he stopped with the Disney related articles. Do you know what replaced those articles? Weekly Conspiracy Theories about Stacey’s very own teachers. Doesn’t this seem strange to you? You probably thought nothing of it, but I’m here to tell you the truth.

Gavin started writing conspiracy articles to distract people, from the conspiracies around him and who he really is. If you still don’t understand what I mean, keep reading to find out. And if you do understand, still keep reading because what comes next may surprise you.

Is Gavin Actually Walt Disney?

Gavin is obsessed with Disney, and everything about it. What is the reason behind this? Well, it may not be obvious to you but it makes perfect sense to me. Gavin IS Walt Disney himself. He has nine Disney related articles on the Cougar Chronicle and many more that were not published. How does he know so much? Well, finally, we have an answer.

There are many conspiracies that after Walt Disney died, he had his body frozen in a tank of liquid nitrogen. Well, it was all a cover-up. While everyone was researching that conspiracy, they missed what was really happening. Walt Disney’s doctors took Walt’s brain and put it into a young boy. Can you guess what the boy’s name was? GAVIN MERCADO! OBVIOUSLY!

Is Gavin Really God?

This may seem like a stretch to you, a 13-year-old boy being God. I assure you though, this is true. How do I know? Gavin admitted that he was God over text (see in the picture above). Before he admitted it though, I was on his case. What led me to believe this, is his name, Gavin Mercado. If you rearrange the letters you get American God V. So this leads to the fact that Gavin is American God the fifth.

While in science class one day, Gavin was talking to me and our fellow journalist, Avi. He mentioned that he was in fact “On God level status” and that he would “curse us peasants.” Was he trying to reveal his true identity to us? Can he not just come out and say it because he is sworn to secrecy? Well, I guess only God knows. *Get it? Because he might be God.*

Maybe now that you know more about Gavin and who he really is, maybe you will look at him and his stories differently. Hide your children.

I love America, and so should you. Not because of the government, but because of the rich history and culture. The American Spirit is strong and glorious. The people of America are mighty and full of life. Culture. America has an immense amount of it.

From California to Kansas to New York, the people and souls are different. New York, for example, is known for its Italian based society, California for its beaches and hot summers, Kansas for countrysides and southern fire.

But what these each individual states all have in common is that they are all in the US. Yet they are all extremely different from one another. The culture of America as a whole is that people from all corners of the world can build a new life.

A greater one. It doesn’t matter who you are. Gay or straight, black or white, man or woman, all have opportunities they can take and construct a whole career off of it. The American spirit is the strongest in the world. It represents the want and need to persevere through thick and thin.

People have fought and died to hold up the freedom and liberty America offers. They continue to fight for our right for free speech, to defend from foreign tyranny and to protect the families of the United States.

We are one of the only countries where you can express your true opinion. You’re allowed to say you hate the president, and that’s a GOOD thing. Black people stood up for themselves in the fifties and sixties and continue to do so.

Women fought for rights in the 1800s. We had a civil war and fought each other to free the millions of slaves. Gay people earned their right to marry.

There’s such a huge fire inside of American people that when we’re bored we fight that Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is sexist. The rest of the world has their eyes on us, to see what we will do next.

Personally, I’m excited yet scared to see what the future holds. America is driving the car of humanity. I wonder where we’re going to go next. I love America, and so should you.

“Eastside” was written by Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid, Ed Sheeran, and Nathan Perez. The song and the music video released on July 12th, 2018. This song got so popular it became top 10 in Ireland, Australia, Scotland, New Zealand, and the US.

2 – “Without Me”- Halsey

“Without Me” is a song by American singer Halsey. The song was released through Capitol Records on October 4, 2018. The song was written about the regrets Halsey had after a romantic relationship she previously had.

3 – “Thank U Next” – Ariana Grande

“Thank U, Next” is a song by singer Ariana Grande, released as the lead single from her fifth studio album. Lyrically, the song reflects on Grande’s past relationships. Like her past fiance Pete Davidson.

4 – “Sunflower” – Post Malone

“Sunflower(Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”, more commonly known simply as “Sunflower”, is a song performed by American rappers Post Malone and Swae Lee for the soundtrack to the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The song was released as a single on October 18, 2018. It became Malone’s third and Lee’s first song as the top the Billboard Hot 100.

5 – “7 Rings”- Ariana Grande

“7 Rings” is a song recorded by singer Ariana Grande for her fifth studio album Thank U, Next. The song was written by Grande and it was released by Republic Records on January 18, 2019, as the second single from the album. The song also topped the charts in several other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, and much more.

6 – “High Hopes”- Panic at the Disco

“High Hopes” is by Panic! At the Disco. This song is 8th on the Billboard top 100 songs and well-deserved that place. It was released on May 23rd, 2018 and is still one of the top songs in 2019.

7- “Happier”- Marshmellow and Bastille

Happier is a song by Marshmello and British band Bastille. The song was written and produced by Marshmello, but some lyrics are from Dan Smith and Steve Mac, it was released on August 17, 2018, and it reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100. It is the highest charting single for Marshmello in the UK and the US.

8 – “Close to Me” – Ellie Goulding and Diplo featuring Swae Lee

“Close to Me” is a song by Ellie Goulding and American record producer Diplo featuring singer Swae Lee, released on 24 October 2018. It was premiered on BBC radio as the “Hottest Song Record in America.

9 – “Better” – Khalid

“Better” is a song by American singer Khalid. It was first released as the lead single from Khalid’s debut on September 14, 2018. It peaked at number 18 in the US and 14 in Canada. “Better” marked Khalid’s second number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, following the 11-week run of “Young Dumb & Broke”

10 – “Sicko Mode”- Travis Scott ft. Drake

“Sicko” mode is by Travis Scott featured by Drake. This song is known by so many people it has even been in memes. This song and has been associated with Mo Bamba in the memes. This song will be well known for a long time and is quite enjoyable to listen to.

A few years ago, Disneyland announced something fascinating for their park. A Star Wars themed land. It wasn´t announced until recently, however, that the official name for this land is going to be Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge, and it will open in June.

Now, this article isn’t telling you that you shouldn’t visit Disneyland when it opens, but I am saying it will for sure be a nightmare. Now, here are five reasons why:

The Wait Times:

If you´ve even touched Disney property before, you very well know that Disneyland isn´t one of your usual theme parks where you can basically ride any ride you want. There are lines. These lines, well, they get long.

Active Disney goers know that whenever Disney opens up a new attraction or land, the wait times will skyrocket up. It was reported that when radiator springs racers opened up in Disney’s California Adventure, the wait time hiked up to eight hours long. Media is expecting rides at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to pass that outstanding record.

Getting In Is Going To Be Legit Impossible:

Sure, most would expect the long wait times for the attractions and shops. However, most people don´t consider the fact that there will be extremely long parking lines. They will extend into Harbor Boulevard and Disney Way. There is nothing Disney can do to correct this issue.

Along with this problem, guests have to consider the lines to get through the Disneyland gates themselves. This, I can say, could take up to two hours just to get into the parks. Yikes.

Park Capacity Will Fill:

The thing with Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge is, it will make the park reach maximum capacity. The maximum capacity is eighty-five thousand people. This is not a whole lot considering how many people are planning on attending.

If you would even like a chance of getting into the park in the first place, you need to be at the gate at least an hour before the park opens. To guarantee a chance to get into Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge, it is recommended that you go to the gate two hours before the park opens.

The Crowds Will Be Thicker Than An Ice Block:

When going to Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge, you can bet your very last penny that you will be in bottleneck spaces with very little breathing room. So I mean, have fun with that. This is another reason why you need to get to Galaxy´s Edge early.

The Rest of the Park Will Be Dead:

This final reason is something that not a whole lot of people think about when they think of Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge. That’s right, the rest of the park will be completely dead.

When I say this, I´m talking about Disneyland Park and especially Disney’s California Adventure Park. You can expect both of these parks to be completely dead. Zero lines. I can merely guarantee you that lines will be cut in half.

That´s all for today Cougars. Are you going to Star Wars: Galaxy´s Edge this Summer. Make sure you vote and the poll and let us know in the comments as well!

The magical movie, Mary Poppins, came out on August 27, 1964, dazzling those who seek an adventurous yet charming movie. When Jane and Micheal, the children of the wealthy Banks family, sought attention and care of a nanny, they were to face Mary Poppins, a cheerful nanny who liked to keep things in order. When Mary Poppins and the Bank’s children go around to explore, they come across Bert, Mary’s cheerful chimney sweeper friend. They go on adventures inside of chalk drawings, met friendly animals, and sing iconic and wonderful songs that bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Years and years later, Micheal and Jane are all grown up, Micheal living inside of the old family home as featured in the first movie with his three children; John, Annabelle, and George. George being the youngest, always getting into trouble, and Annabelle and John, the loveable twins. When the Bank’s family comes across a financial crisis, Jane and Micheal begin to look for the certificate saying that they have the right to owning all of the money that their father had left them.

When the Banks children’s mother died, it left their father and housemaid to look after them. When Mary Poppins later arrives, John instantly falls in love with the thought of having Mary Poppins around all the time. The twins are extremely skeptical about Mary Poppins, thinking that they could take care of themselves fairly well, at about the age of ten. Jane and Micheal are starstruck, awed over the fact that she is standing right there. They start to tell the children about how she was their nanny as children, and how she hadn’t mellowed a bit.

As the movie got on, they began to sing, dance, solve problems, and actually were able to solve the financial problem that their father had faced.

In my opinion, the movie was really very amazing, all except for the fact that they forgot to put in the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” or “A spoonful of sugar.” Some even say it would’ve been great for Mary Poppins to say, “Have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!” (or something like that) before she had left.

The end of the movie honestly amazed me. The kids all got a balloon from the park fair and magically floated up to the sky. Everyone did the same, grabbing a balloon; children having fun, adults feeling like a kid, and everyone singing joyfully. The “balloon lady,” as portrayed by Angela Lansbury, who sang a song that blew away the audience.

I know that Julie Andrews is proud of this sequel, even if some may say that it is a disgrace.

Overall, this was definitely a great movie. I would love to see it again and rate it 5 stars!

¨Would you like to buy a box of cookies?¨ asks millions of American Girl Scouts every day during cookie season. However, although seemingly innocent, Girl Scouts seem to have a hypocritical side.

Don´t get me wrong, I´m not saying that Girl Scouts are negative or anything. However, there are a few very exclusive things about Girl Scouts that makes it hard to wrap my head around.

That’s right. I´m talking about gender; the word that has quite possibly cut America in half. Girl Scouts, as said in the name, is a program for girls in which they participate in activities like camping, fundraising, and of course, cookie selling.

The problem with this program isn’t anything with cookies, but more, exclusiveness. If you are a boy, you are not allowed to be a part of this program. Pardon? Just because someone was born a certain way means that they are not allowed to join this program.

Women empowerment is all good but, really? It´s 2019 and although oppression will always exist, you can’t hide from it. Isn’t the point of this program to empower women to equality? But here’s the thing. They are being hypocritical. How you ask?

Well, you see, they created a group to promote equality. Yet, they are pushing a certain group {boys} away. Don´t get me wrong, this group is powerful. However, they may be ¨reversing¨ if you will, the problem by making girls think that they are better than boys. Which brings me to say that we are equal. No group is better than the other.

However, I do applaud the Boy Scouts for allowing girls to join. This is one minor step of progress.

Additionally, Girl Scout leaders in Colorado have claimed that they are an inclusive organization, but then stated that, “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.”

They claim that they are inclusive, yet, they still exclude boys who would like to join. Their excuse to use the word ¨inclusive¨ is for transgender females. This makes absolutely zero sense to me or to quite frankly anyone. Now, what can be done to solve this issue?

Start Including EVERYONE: Although the names might point to a certain gender, it’s about time to let everyone start selling cookies. What makes it a woman’s job to sell cookies? On the other hand, what makes it a male´s job to build a fire and go on adventures in the woods? Let’s start making scouts inclusive for every little boy and girl to join.

Change the Name: Although I am happy that Boy Scouts have started to let girls join their program, it’s time to get a name change. Changing the name would not only get rid of gender roles in the scouts but create a welcoming feel to the troops. Instead of Girl Scouts, it could be called Community Scouts. Instead of Boy Scouts, maybe Adventure Scouts.

Separate Sleeping Arrangements: This would have to happen after the scouts combine. One thing most parents would be concerned about is sleeping arrangements. Of course, the solution to this would be to have to separate areas for girls and boys. This would give parents a lot of relief knowing their child could maintain privacy.

Do you agree with me? Should Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts turn into ¨Community Scouts¨ and ¨Adventure Scouts?¨ Vote in the poll below. Until next time, Cougars, have a great day!

West Arts Productions is known for putting on the most incredible and fun Musicals there are, such as there previous one Peter Pan Jr. as well as Grease. Rehearsals for there next show, Seussical the Musical start on February 26th and are every Tuesday and Thursday.

Seussical has plenty of well-known characters just like the Famous Cat in the Hat. Dr. Seuss is an incredible author that everyone knows of and it’s no surprise that one of his writings has become a musical.

Details on Seussical include:

It was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephan Flaherty

Its main storyline is from Horton Hears a Who but it has other works by Dr. Seuss incorporated into it.

Seussical made its Broadway debut in 2000

It has been nominated for many awards but never really won

The lead roles are:

Cat in the Hat: He is a very joyful and fun character who kind of tells the story

Horton: A believing elephant who just wants to have people believe in him

Gertrude Mcfuzz: A shy bird who finds her way into Horton’s life and wants to stay there

Jojo: A curious little boy who befriends an incredible cat

Mayzie: a sassy little bird who decides to get herself an egg and doesn’t want to keep it

Sour Kangaroo: A kangaroo who has got sass for days and makes fun of Horton

So, if you love to be on stage or have wanted to give it a try joining West arts is a great thing for you to do. The West Arts community welcomes everyone and every single person there is super supportive and they are like family and they will stick by your side for as long as you need it. So come by and see what it’s like. In a few weeks, once the show has started up, a follow-up article with all of the cast members and show dates will be up.